1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lawn mower with a grass collecting unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
One example of lawn mowers with a grass connecting unit is known from Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 2002-238322 (see paragraph 0016; FIGS. 1, 3 and 4), in which the lawn mower comprises a support frame connected at a rear portion of a vehicle body, a grass container supported to the support frame through an upper link, a lower link, and a vertical link, and a hydraulic cylinder mounted between the upper link and the lower link of the support frame. The lower link is vertically pivotable relative to the support frame by action of the hydraulic cylinder, thereby allowing the grass container to be vertically movable relative to the support frame. In this type of lawn mower, the support frame has conventionally been fixedly connected to a chassis of the lawn mower through connecting bolts.
The lawn mower performs not only a mowing operation for collecting grass clippings in the grass container but also a mowing operation for discharging and leaving the grass clippings on the ground such as a mulching operation. Since the latter case does not require the grass container, the grass collecting unit including the grass container should be removed from the lawn mower. In order to detach the grass collecting unit from the lawn mower, the numerous connecting bolts should be removed with the grass collecting unit being suspended by a crane or a lifter to release connection of the grass collecting unit relative to the lawn mower, then the grass collecting unit should be lowered on the ground. Also, in order to attach the grass collecting unit to the lawn mower, a reversed process should be performed. Such operations for attaching and detaching the grass collecting unit to/from the lawn mower place a heavy burden on the operator.